MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 485 



situated in Native States ; but I take this opportunity to state 

 that, from the landscape gardener's point of view, the finest specimen 

 of his art, in my opinion, is the Eden Garden at Calcutta. Anything 

 more perfect in harmony of outline and grouping together of 

 plants ; the undulations of surface ; the promontories and grottos ; the 

 gracefully winding paths and the equally winding course of the 

 serpentine, all form in themselves a perfect whole such as I have not 

 seen anywhere else in India. The only deficiency of this lovely 

 garden consists in the absence of carriage drives ; but these were, I 

 understand, advisedly omitted owing to the limited space within 

 which a perfect galaxy of beauty had to be crammed in. There 

 can be no doubt that the man who designed this garden must have 

 been a past master in the art of landscape gardening. It would be 

 well if some of our large Native States, possessing spare ground, 

 would take the Eden Grarden as a model, and have it laid out accord- 

 ingly. 



MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 



No. I.— NOTE ON 



CASSIA GRANDIS, LINN., AND C. MARGIN AT A, ROXB. 



Attention may be invited to those two species of Cassia because they are 

 not met with in our gardens as often as their merits as ornamental trees deserve, 

 and because they are apt to be taken as of one species. Both are included in 

 the Section Fistula, of DeCandolle, named apparently from the pipe-like pods 

 so well shown in Cassia fistula, Linn., the Bawa, or Umaltas of this country. 



Cassia grandis, Linn., is stated by DeCandolle to be a native of the' Islands 

 of the Caribbean Sea, of Guiana, and Brazil. In Western India there are very 

 few mature specimens. To one, in the garden of Lady Sassoon at Poona, 

 the attention of the writer of this paper was drawn by Mr. Solomon, a 

 student of the College of Science, Poona, and there is also one in the old 

 Botanic Garden at Hewra. The specimen at Poona is a handsome tree 

 about 25 feet in height, of open habit, with ascending branches, bearing 

 alternate, stipulate, distichous leaves, of from 10-20 pair of stalked leaflets, 

 which are oblong mucronate with entire, thickened and reflexed margins, and 

 attaining about li" x |" the largest leaflets being slightly below the centre. In 

 colour the young leaves are of a ruby tint, softened by silvery pubescence, but 

 ultimately become smooth and green. The petiolules are about £ inch in length 

 and the stipules wedge-shaped £ inch in length. 



The flowers are produced during March-April, in numerous short racemes 

 which combined form a grand paniculate inflorescence. Both calyx and corolla 

 62 



